Journey of a Demi-God
by Uzumaki Crossover
Summary: Ripped from one world to the next after death, Naruto is once again set on a journey to save the world and his family. His jounrey won't be easy, especially when factoring in that the Greek and Roman Pantheons won't be the only Mythology he will be having to deal with alongside friends. Rated M for reasons. NarutoX?
1. Chapter 1

**Journey of a Demigod**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Wow, been while. Almost a year since I got a new job in the form of a credit union teller, and I got a raise, so I am pretty happy with my 11 dollar an hour job. Not much to some but the most I have ever had.**

 **But I am back with stories again. The three to come out are of course this one, Journey of a Demi God. In the Shadow of a Perfect life, which is another spin on the main story. And finally…something you have all been waiting for…FOXFIRE PART 2! I will be working those for the time being as I don't want to overwhelm myself again. But you won't be getting that one until after the weekend….after I get my wisdom teeth ripped out of my skull.**

 **Ok, this is something I have wanted to work on for a long time. It is a Naruto/Percy Jackson crossover where Naruto is the twin of Annabeth, effectively making him a son of Athena, but with a twist for both of them. I will reveal it in this chapter, but it sheds some light as to WHY Frederic Chase loved old war machines so much.**

 **Pairing is not decided yet and I am stuck between two characters. One is an old friend of Naruto in this world and his not affected by her powers. The other….is in the other camp. Meh….i'll put up a poll in my profile.**

 **Anyway, Enjoy.**

 **XXXXXX Play a rock song or something. I was playing My Demons by Starset.**

 _Naruto Uzumaki. Ninja. Hokage.  
_

 _This was a man of legend as he stood atop the Hokage monument. However, as he gazed at this village, the sun flashed, blinding him to the huge ball of black flames that slammed into him. As he was lifted off his feet, the world broke away and shattered and the black flames turned white and then into a figure of a woman as Naruto turned into a ball of light. The woman, who looked of royal decent, smiled at Naruto's small form and then gave it to a wise looking woman who took it to a Greek city on a top of a large mountain._

 _Then that ball of light is flying down the mountain as it turns into two people. One is of course Naruto, while the other is a girl named Annabeth, who looked no older than 7 years old. The two 7 year old ran along the terrain even as it flattens out and turns into grassy fields and rocky landscapes. They keep running as they are joined by three other people. Luke, Thalia, and Grover. They soon add running and fighting to the journey as a darkness chases them._

 _Soon, they come upon a hill near fields of strawberry and a familiar camp. Talia looked back at the darkness behind them and smiles sadly and then tells the others to run to the camp. All but young Naruto runs in fear of the darkness, but the young blond stands ready to fight alongside a friend with a crudly made but working gun. Talia shakes her head in the negative as she gives the young blond a parting hug and begins to push the boy away to safety. With tears, the young boy forces the gun into Talia's hands and runs off._

 _Talia closes her eyes as a tear escapes her eyes before combining the gun with her shield and spear to fight the darkness but is soon swallowed by it. The sky booms and a bolt of lightning crashes down into the darkness, blooming into a grand tree._

 _xxx_

 _Time passes as the group is still close, surrounding Naruto. More join and stand next to the blond as Annabeth looks happily at her brother finally making friends_

 _However, Luke steps away from the group and gains a scar across his face and then sees two symbols of power and reaches out to them. One is a golden sarcophagus while the other is a pentagram version of the Star of David._

 _Soon, Luke turns back to Naruto and with a smirk of deceit, offers a hand to the younger blond, who never takes the hand, angering the boy, but he then just walks off into the darkness to begin his journey._

 _Soon, Naruto is on his own journey and he leaves camp with a sendoff hug from his sister and their friends while a girl none of them expected wishes the blond good luck with a kiss to the cheek. A girl named Drew._

 _The blond's journey takes him to the Capital of the U.S. where he is ambushed by a giant golden lion and they fight as green fire overtakes them both._

 _Those flames turns black and explodes into hundreds of black birds with a strange metal on them as they dive bomb the blond, who now has a lion's pelt on him. He then takes out a pair of black and white guns with the wind violently whipping around him and shoots at the birds, creating black smoke._

 _Out of the black smoke, Naruto is joined by Zoe Nightshade and Artemis at his sides. They find themselves in the middle of a city being attacked by screaming wraiths. Naruto just nods to them as the camera pans out to show the rest of the huntresses as they hold up shields made of mirrors, Spartan Style, and the glare blinds everything until it just shows one mirror with Naruto in it. The blond points the gun out with a look of insanity and shoots, shattering the mirror._

 _Naruto is then seen defending himself from a well dress teen with a wicked looking staff in a rotting forest only to be separated by a large geyser of water that turns into an eight headed snake and bats him away. A hand offers itself and he takes it to see a man in Jackal mask. They then face the beast with shadows at their backs, a humanoid lion and jackal respectively. Naruto raises a hand and a bolt of lightning crashes down blinding everything once more._

 _On his knees, Naruto riaseas he he followed by the shadows of his friend and staresat the challenges ahead of a determined loo. All ranging from a camp made from Roman architecture, giant beings that should be long dead, the lord of Monsters in Typhon himself, and finally to a boy walking through the desert._

 _That boy is Luke, he is seen walking through the desert towards a darkened temple surrounded by a raging sand storm. He looks out the corner of his eye to Naruto and he sees one sickly yellow eye as he smirks and continues walking as the sand storm obstructs all view of the boy._

 **XXXXXX (Hope you like the symbolism!)  
**

 _June 30, 2012~ Forest Near Zeus' Fist_

Naruto breathed in calmly as he got ready for another one of his training sessions. However, due to Chiron's worry over his use of his special weapons and the way he used them, he had made Naruto be watched by one of his friends in case he hurt himself. She was currently sitting on a rock not that far away looking bored as she checked her nails.

Another one of his friends, Juniper, a wood nymph, along with her friends where helping Naruto with his training this time as they had set up a few targets for him to take care of. He, of course, was always grateful for their help. Juniper did because she was his friend, but the others were a mystery to him as he thought they were just juniper's friends who were bored. However, Juniper knew the truth as a few of her mythical friends had a crush on the blond.

Juniper is small and petite, with wispy hair the color of amber, and a pretty elfish face. She wore a green chiton and sandals. Naruto knew his friend, Grover, had a crush on the girl, but wasn't making any moves due to his shy and somewhat cowardly nature. Grover didn't think he was good enough for the wood nymph, but Naruto thought he knew the girl shared his feelings. However, Naruto was not a son of Aphrodite, so he was not well versed in helping them get together.

"Ok, we're ready." Juniper stated, making the blond nod. Said blond was spiky haired that confused his siblings as none of them had that type of hair. In addition to that, he wore the camp's orange T-shirt since it was his favorite color. Over that, he wore a faded blue hoodie that was half zipped with the hood up. Next was a pair of blue jeans and a pair of black tennis shoes. And another off feature about him were his eyes. Sure they were stormy like his siblings, but his were blue while other were grey.

"Let's do this." He said calmly with anticipation in his eyes. Juniper nodded while the other girl on the nearby rock looked up briefly and nodded that she was 'paying attention' and then went back to checking her nails.

"Start!" Juniper shouted, which alerted her friends as well.

Naruto shot off through the forest, heading towards the clearing that held the landmark, Zeus' Fist, which in his and everyone else opinion looked like a pile of deer dropping. Reaching into his hoodie's pockets, he took out two key chains shaped as pistols, which then enlarged into real life six shooter pistols. He, of course, made this with the help of Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus.

As the first target materialized next to a tree and he shot it down with a bullseye and then as he looked for another target, he thought about his choice in weapons. Back when he and his twin sister, Annabeth, were looking for places to stay and hiding from monsters that wanted to eat them, he knew that at the tender age of 7, he was too weak to fend them off normally. Luckily, he had an interest in sling shots and often used that as a distraction for him and his sister to get away safely.

Two more targets were shot down as they hung from the trees at this point and he let his anger fall though as he sharply spotted two more and harshly shot them apart. The reason for his anger was the trip it took to get to camp half blood. At the time, he and his sister were picked up by two other people like them, demi-gods apparently, One was the now traitor Luke, A son of Hermes, someone his sister had a crush on and wanted to turn him good again…..like that would happen. The other was a crush of his own at the time, Thalia, a daughter of Zues. And finally their Satry friend/protector, Gover. They had become like family in their long trip.

Along the way, they came across a few TVs that showed off cartoons….old violent cartoons called the Loony Toons. That was where he got the idea to instead try and use guns instead of a sling shot. They were much more effective after all. However, there was a problem. As a child, he couldn't go and buy a gun; the shop owners all laughed at him and told him to go away. So he….stole a toy gun, they were on the run and had no money, and on their trip, he slowly modified it to work like a real gun. Of course he just found rusty nails and screws as ammo, but they did their job for the most part.

A tear escaped his eyes, causing him to not hit the bulls-eye this time, but the target was shattered nonetheless. In their final moments with Thalia, who told them to run the final stretch to camp while she held the massive amount of monsters that had followed them, Naruto had given her that gun to help protect his crush turned older sister figure that he respected greatly. She had smiled at him sadly as she took the gun in her shielded hand and then gave him a final hug.

Naruto ran through the targets with ease as he made his way into the clearing. He had blamed himself when Thalia died and was turned into a tree by her father out of pity. It was irritating, but he had finally accepted it that deep down, he couldn't have helped her more that he already had. He had missed her deeply though but he was beyond happy that she was alive thanks to the Golden Fleece.

Naruto jumped up high as a target appeared high in the trees. He shot it and kept on going until he landed on the nearby landmark. Looking up at it, he thought, _I made a promise Lord Zeus, that I would not let anymore friends die. That is a promise and I swore on the River Styx, so I must not fail when the time comes._

"Hey idiot! Watch out!" came the voice of the girl watching him in a panic.

"Wha- Whoa!" Naruto shouted as he dodged to the left as a giant claw of a particularly large scorpion monster tried taking his head off. _Damn, how could I forget these are stocked in the forest. I am pretty deep in it after all. No matter, I need to take this down quick._

Naruto ducked another claw swipe and dropped his six shooter pistols as they would do little to pierce this monster's thick shell. _My greatest advantage against these things are their horrible vision during the day, so I need distance, which I am well versed in._

The blond did a backflip just as the tail of the scorpion monster came down to try and impale him. Backing up a bit more, he glared at the creature. Reaching into his hoodie's pockets once more, took out two more keychains, this time in the shape of a couple of Glocks. They were perfect for this situation as the bullets could hit the eyes if need be.

Taking a few shots, he did manage to shoot an eye out, enraging the beast and making it stupid.

Before he could think up a plan on the fly to take care of the other eye and then the beast itself, he was struck with a sudden pain in his head that he was all too familiar with. You see, while he may have been born in this world, he often got visions of his past self, it just decided to come at the most inopportune time. In the middle of a freaking fight for his life!

XXX

 _The past Naruto was fighting another monster, but this one the current Naruto knew to be as Gaara of the Sand, someone who would later become a friend to the past blond. But why was he getting a memory he already knew of?!_

 _The scene played out like it did before, with his past self getting the shit beat out of him by sand shuriken. Then, Naruto pulled off a strange combination of shadow clones for him to land a blow that was basically an enema, with his kunai getting stuck in Gaara's sand armor near the rectal area. Then, it exploded, breaking apart the sand armor with ease, making it a lot easier for the past Naruto to manhandle Gaara for a short time with his multitude of clones._

XXX

With that, the strange and random memory vision stopped, leaving Naruto to ponder what the vision was telling him. If he was correct in his assumption, he thought it was telling him to find the weak point of his opponent and then preform a similar experience. Yes, he had an exploding tag in his pocket, how could he not figure out how to make one from all the random memories of his past self he got. They were used everywhere by everyone at some point in them.

If that was what he had to do, then fine, but this creature's weak point was not near its rectum, but on its face. Sure, there were always chinks in the armor of scorpion monsters, but swords were used to get at that weakness. Wait, he was just in a fight, right? Then where-?

"Oh you idiot, this is why Chiron worries his ass off about you!" the female voice that warned him about the scorpion sounded again before he was tackled out of the way as a tail strike cut into the ground where he was just at.

Looking to the girl on top of him, who was now gripping about the dirt on her new shirt. This girl was Drew Tanaka, an obvious daughter of Aphrodite. She, of course, wore the orange camp t-shirt that was oddly tucked in her short….shorts with a pink belt on along with stylish shoes…that were now dirty as well. In addition to her tight clothing, she wore a lot of jewelry, mostly bracelets on her arms and a pearl necklace. Being a daughter of the love goddess, she was naturally very beautiful. She, as her name depicts, was an Asian girl and around her eyes, she wore pink eye liner. Her hair, which was still in pristine condition, was dark black in a ringlet style. She also had sparkling brown eyes.

Shaking himself out of his observation, Naruto noticed that the Scorpion was coming for them again and grimaced. When the monster reared its tail back to prepare for another strike, Naruto roughly grabbed Drew by the shoulder and they rolled out of the way, with Naruto on top this time.

Drew smirked up at him and said, "Oh? Finally making your move on me, hon?"

Naruto glared down at his friend before roughly picking the both of them up. "Listen, I have a plan now, but I need you to distract it for me. Use that charmspeak of yours."

Drew looked a little panicked, she had forgotten momentarily that the Scorpion was there. "Alright I guess, but you know I hate fighting."

"Tch, I said distract it, not fight it." Naruto replied in an annoyed tone. "I can handle the fighting."

"Fine, but you own me." Drew pouted before she smiled at the creature. "Come big boy, focus on me, but please don't attack me sweetie?" The monster stared at the daughter of Aphrodite for a moment, creeping her out before it let out a strange sound. She took it as an affirmation. "Now sit down and be a good boy." It just plopped down, its legs flatting out.

Naruto sweat dropped a bit at that. He knew charmspeak was powerful, but damn, this girl made it look easy. Shaking his head, he reached inside his hoodie again and took out a single piece of paper and then ran at the beast from behind. Jumping over its tail, he managed to slap the tag right between its eyes.

With a smirk, he backflipped and landed next to Drew. "In the immortal words of a nut job in my memories, Art is an EXPLOSION!" a sudden look of madness took over his face as he forced the tag to explode, blasting the face off the creature, which in turn, made it cry out in terrible pain. Still, with that look and giant smile on his face, he pointed his glocks at the creature and proceeded to shoot it till it finally died. The bullets bypassed the severely weakened shell of the creature, tearing it asunder.

But….he didn't stop shooting until all the bullets had been used up. When the telltale 'click click' sounded, he went back to normal and looked at his guns in confusion before looking toward the girl next to him to see she had a fearful look on her face. He looked down in shame, angry with himself. "It happened again, didn't it?"

"Y-yeah." Drew replied weakly. "It's really scary, ya know?"

"I'm sorry." Naruto replied quietly, a look of anguish on his face.

Drew took a calming breath before smiling at him, lifting his chin up to so he could see that she wasn't scared anymore. "Don't think too much on it, I know you can't control it that well yet. Scary it may be, but I know you. You'll bounce back and be you again. Besides, you are not scaring me off."

"Heh, figures." Naruto replied with a sad smile. "But thank you Drew."

"Don't mention it." Drew replied with a smile before that turned into a deadpanned look. "Like ever."

The blond nodded and they began their trek back into camp while Naruto took out a small notebook out of one of his pockets, he didn't even bother to pick up his spoil of war. Juniper noticed this and quickly took it and subtly giving it to Drew and then left. He flipped through pages of sketches, diagrams, and heavily worded texts. He had detailed every single memory that came to him, whether big or small. The memories were sporadic, jumping from early points of his life to his later years, without rhyme or reason.

He had gathered enough info to try and use ninja like moves now and then and he only succeeded because he had done some research on gods and demi gods. They too used energy much like chakra, but different at the same time. Naruto had dubbed it as Divine Chakra. It was how they use their domains. They used their energy to manipulate them to do their bidding. However, demi gods could use that energy, but they barely ever used it, that was why they didn't become that strong. Naruto was different. With research, he found that even Demi-Gods possessed Chakra and to a point, even Divine Chakra. He found that he could use both and trained in them to use them effectively. The results were interesting to say the least but that was for another time.

Drew noticed the book and saw that he went to a specific section of his early life….or should she say, his other self's early life. Man, that was just confusing. "What memory was it this time?"

"My battle against Gaara, but this time it only focused on me using that enema explosion." Naruto answered.

Drew burst out laughing at that. "Man, your past self was such a dork! Using a variation of a jutsu that was used on him!"

"Indeed, but the attack did have some merit and it translated into this battle we just had, which I must ask, flirting during battle, really?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, not truly understand the need for it.

Drew blushed angrily. "Oh come on you brain, I am a daughter of Aphrodite. It is my specialty, so sue me." She then got a coy smirk on her face. "But one of these days, I will capture you."

Naruto snorted as he made a note in his book. "Not likely." He replied. Now, one might find it VERY odd that Naruto was even friends with a girl like Drew. In fact, a lot of people saw her as kind of a bitch, who uses men and then breaks their hearts for fun. After all, as a daughter of Aphrodite, that was what she thought she had to do. Make boys fall hard for her and then break their hearts.

But no matter what she did, her charms and her charmspeak could not get through to Naruto and that frustrated her to no end. However, she often wondered if it was because of want happened earlier….The Madness. No, that couldn't be it. He was just dense in the area of love and lust.

So she let him befriend her. She at first thought he was just another nerdy son of Athena, but he was much more than that. He was a good person. He even told her that Love was not how she views it and he was determined to show her what it truly was. Was that why he rejected her offers? No, he just didn't want her to break his heart and be done with him. Of course, at first, she was planning on doing that to this challenge, but he wormed his way into her life with his kindness and they became friends, accepting the good and the bad each had. Even with his own denseness towards love thrown at him, he was pretty knowledgeable, as expected of a son of Athena.

She looked at her friend with smile and said, "So other than the incident, how do you think you did, hon?"

"Despite the incident near the end, I feel that my training was sufficient." Naruto nonchalantly as he continued to look over his book. Like a natural son of Athena, he usually got engrossed in his work…ie, reading. "I know you feel that it is a waste of time, but you should continue training with your special weapon. You can't rely on the camp to keep you protected forever. Especially after what happened when Tantalus was here."

Drew scowled at that name. "Yeah, but that jerk is gone and Chiron is back, so what is the big deal?"

"You know that is just a crutch right. With possible war on the horizon because of Luke, Chiron might not be able to protect all of us." Naruto replied as he put his notebook away. Of course, Naruto would be the realist here.

"Fine." Drew sighed, "But I still say that weapon makes me look like a sadist." She paused to smirk at her friend, "Or do you like that sort of thing? BDSM? We could always try it."

Naruto stared at her for a moment before shaking his head with a strained smile. "Seriously?"

"Like I said, quit trying to fight it." Drew nonchalantly replied with a shit eating grin and her hands behind her back. The two friends were usually like this that it was common place and Naruto was practically used to her quips. He wasn't embarrassed anymore.

"But seriously." Drew started up again with a serious face. "You need to be more careful in battle; these random memories could get you seriously hurt or killed one of these days and then Clarisse will kill me because I was watching you!"

"Oh come on, my aunt is not that bad." Naruto replied waving it off until his friend just stared at him. "Ok she is a bit overprotective of me."

"A BIT?" Drew raged. "That is an understatement! She dragged you on her quest for the fleece and treated you like a little kid. She may have trained you to be a better warrior, but damn, it is a bit much."

"She just cares too much." Naruto replied with an uncomfortable shrug. He loved his aunt, but while she was a bit rough around the edges, she was very protective of him….and Annabeth to a point. Maybe it was because he actually accepted the fact that is grandfather was Ares. That….or the Madess.

"Damn right!" Clarisse replied, coming up behind them with a smirk, scaring the two and making them realize that they were back in the main area of camp, near the big house. She then narrowed her eyes on the two. "You two weren't doing anything bad in the forest, where you?"

Naruto sighed, "Nope, I was training myself on the running target practice with Drew observing. I also had Juniper and her friends help me a bit."

"Which I had to then save your butt from a scorpion because you were distracted. Twice!" Drew added with a smirk. She enjoyed making Naruto suffer sometimes. This was one of them. "Oh and you just left your spoil back there, so here." She said as she took out a bullet….made from the poison gland of the beast.

Clarisse shook her head as she watched Naruto take the bullet, muttering about having more back at the cabin. "I thought I taught you better than to be distracted like that on the battlefield." She said while crossing her arms in a menacing way, making Naruto very nervous. "Or maybe it is your company?"

"Hey, don't look at me. He sure wasn't." Drew replied with a pout.

Clarisse's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Fine, whatever. Naruto, Chiron sent me to get you, seems that you have a quest."

Both teens' eyes widened at that as the stared at the older girl. Finally, Naruto spoke, "Well….Annie is not going to be happy about that."

XXX

… _A few minutes earlier on Mount Olympus…_

Zeus was abnormally quiet as the other gods and goddesses chatted with each other. This of course was noticed by his wife, Hera and his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades.

Finally, Poseidon spoke, wanting to know what the heck was with his brother. "Zeus, what is eating at you? You've been quiet this whole time and you are the one who called us all here."

"I was enjoying the quiet, why did you have to get his attention." Hades complained.

If Zeus had been annoyed by that comment, he didn't show it and that managed to worry the eldest of the gods. Zeus calmly looked to his court and family and sighed. "I was thinking about recent events. I am worried."

"Oh come on pops, why are you worried?" Apollo asked in a joking manner with his sister looked at her father in concern.

"Heh, I find it humorous that you, the 'all mighty god of all of us', are worried." Poseidon joked as well.

"Dear, what is it?" Hera asked, sending a glare to her brother and step-son.

Zeus sighed. "Our father has been proven to be manipulating recent events in his favor. What, with him darkening the mind of a Child of Hermes." At that, the Messenger God gained a sad look. "And him orchestrating my daughter's return along with Poseidon's son being around, I feel that we….no…I might have doomed us all."

"Wait, I am the doom and gloom brother, what the heck are you going on about?" Hades asked, paying more attention now.

"Our oath on the River Styx has been broken and we all know bad things come from that. I feel that it choose this situation. The return of our father and the war he will bring upon us all."

Poseidon grew serious. "So our mistakes are coming to bit us in the ass. This is not good, even you have to admit that our strength has diminished over the years."

Zeus' fist clenched in anger. "I know that, and I am to blame for our current situation. I had another child and then you having another demi god child did not help our situation! However, I doubt the presence of Hades' children that are stuck in the Lotus Hotel have contributed this this problem." Hades looked shocked that his brother knew about his decades old children. "Don't give me that look brother, I am the King of the Gods, of course I have known about that, but do not fear, I hold no ill will towards them."

"I can't say the same for my daughter though. She will not take kindly to you cheating on her again. Still can't believe you took her from me and she is not enough for you." Demeter replied as she glared at her brother.

"Sister, now is not the time for this age old argument!" Zeus snapped at his cereal obsessed sister. "We must come to a solution."

"You all know I love war, but fighting against him again is going to be tough." Ares replied seriously. After all he was manipulated by his grandfather as well.

"True, but I would rather just leave the work of it to our brats." Dionysus replied boredly.

"They will have their own part in this I am sure of that since that Luke kid is being used by our father." Zeus replied sadly as he saw his son flinch at the name. "We must prepare for when he does rise."

"I agree." A soft voice replied from the hearth in the middle of the room. What looked to be a young girl stroking the flames. She was Hestia, the kindest Goddess amongst them. "But we have another problem. When our father does rise, he will inevitably search for his weapon, that very weapon you three used to chop him to pieces with."

Hestia was of course talking about Cronos' legendary scythe, made out of one of Gaia's strongest metals, adamantium.

Zeus sighed, how could he have forgotten about that? Oh right, after they had hidden it away, they asked Hecate to wipe their minds of the location. "Then I suggest we have one of our kids to go and find it."

"That's a fool's errand and you know that. We could have hidden that anywhere. I doubt a demi god would find it all that quickly. In fact, it could take years!" Poseidon yelled.

"Well, we probably have a few years before Luke revives gramps." Apollo replied with a shrug.

"You are not helping!" Poseidon growled. "Also, it could be more perilous than any other quest we have given them. If Zeus says we have gotten weaker over the years, what does that say about our children?!"

"He has a good point." Hephaestus replied.

"I could take the Hunt on a search for it." Artemis offered. After all, why have just one hero do the job when a whole group of highly trained hunters was capable of the task.

Zeus rubbed his temple in annoyance. "Ugh, I am afraid that won't work. We worked with the other pantheons to hide the damn weapon and…well, as Children of Cronos, we sort of made it so only a demi god could find and retrieve it."

"Ugh, that was the stupidest thing we could have done." Poseidon replied. "And we only have enough memory of the events to provide clues…I think I wrote it down somewhere."

"At the time, we thought it was a good idea seeing as we never thought our father would have a chance at returning. I mean, look at all the time that has passed." Hades replied gruffly.

"Might I suggest a demi god then?" Athena finally spoke up, having deduced the perfect person for the job. Zeus nodded and smiled at his daughter. Both of his daughters were brilliant in their own ways and he was very happy about it. "I suggest one of my own, Naruto Chase."

"HA! I like that kid, but my daughter babies him." Ares replied with a laugh. "Maybe now I can give him those weapons…"

"In any case, I feel that he is the one best suited for this quest. He is a very smart son of mine and he has cracked the code as it were to getting stronger as a demi god." Athena replied.

"Heh, I bet that is in part to the boy's strange birth." Poseidon muttered.

Athena glared at the Sea God before thinking back on the boy's birth. Originally, she was only supposed to have Annabeth from Frederick, but then that Shinto Goddess intervened and asked for a favor. That favor lead to Naruto being born alongside Annabeth…not that she was complaining. Maybe this was planned. What was really going on? She would have to look more into that later.

Zeus smiled at Athena's choice. It was a good one as he liked the boy. Since he himself was not allowed to have children anymore and Artemis wasn't going to give him any grandchildren, he looked to Athena's brain children for comfort. They were great kids and he like how different Naruto was compared to his siblings. "Very well, I agree, but I do have concerns. Will his condition prevent him from succeeding in this quest?"

Athena's face darkened at that. The Madness was a rare product in her children. While most had the Fatal Flaw of Pride like her, some had Madness and most lost themselves to it. Naruto, however, seemed to be dealing with it well like his strange memories of his past self, a product of that Shinto Goddess no doubt. But….was the Madness…was it from her, Ares, or that Shinto Goddess? It was very concerning. "No, he should be fine and I have complete faith in him."

"Very well, Dionysus, return to your camp and inform young Naruto of his quest. I am sure the Oracle can point him in the right direction. We'll talk more about our problem later." Zeus replied as he dismissed them.

XXXXX

 **Ok all, that was the first chapter. I hope you all liked it and please tell me what you think. Yes, I know A LOT of people hate Drew, but like I said, Naruto does want to prove to her that her version of love is wrong. That led to a weird friendship between the two. Yes, she is a potential love interest. Originally, I wanted him to be with Zoe for….reasons. Mostly, how they interacted when Naruto was younger. A brother/sister relationship that could have evolved down the road, but I thought better of it as I have a better plan for her down the line. Plus, she won't die in this fic. Thalia was another potential pairing, but I thought better of that one too along with Clarisse.**

 **So then, you are probably asking WHO could be the other candidates for a potential pairing for this Naruto? Well, due to how the story will go, I have found 3 others in addition to Drew. One is the other daughter of Aphrodite in Piper, but I kind of do like the Piper and Jason pairing. Another is Reyna herself due to a story arc where Hera has Naruto do something for her, plus note that arc will be kind of long. Finally is Hazel…this time in a favor to Hades.**

 **So yeah, Drew, Piper, Reyna, and Hazel are the potential pairings. I don't really want to do a harem this time as it is counterproductive to the story. Oh! I just forgot, I do have another, but that pertains to Norse Mythology…and Marvel. Oh well. I'll just set up a poll to see what you guys' opinions are.**

 **Also, I will trying to get the second chapter out this weekend….right after I get all four of my wisdom teeth ripped out of my skull.**

 **REVIEW**


	2. Chapter 2

**Journey of a Demi God**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Well, that surgery was horrible. But hey, it would have been far worse if they actually took out my bottom ones. I wanted to at first but this they are now fused to my jawbone…I don't want to imagine the pain. So yeah, that is finally out of the way and I kind do shit now….well most things. Still can't eat solid foods.**

 **XXXXXX**

Clarisse walked into the big house with Naruto and Drew tailing her. "Ok, I brought the squirt." She replied as she ruffled the blond's messy hair.

Chiron smiled as he saw the two. He was currently in his wheelchair so that he could get around the big house easier. Clarisse was still rough around the edges with the other campers, but he could see that she genuinely cared for the blond boy. It also helped that they were closely related, but Naruto had this strange aura about him that made others like him. Of course with the blond being a son of Athena, he had an answer for that. His past self had that power too. It was still odd.

"Good, good. As you can see, I have already set up a meeting of camp counselors." The trainer of heroes stated gesturing to the assembled people.

Naruto found this as odd as the counselors were never called in for a simple quest. "Ok, what is so special about this quest that it requires a meeting like this?"

Annabeth smiled at her brother and said, "Perceptive as always, but you are a brother of mine, so that is natural. But the truth is, we are not even sure. Mr. D is the one who called this meeting."

"That is correct Amber." Mr D said in an extremely bored tone as he flipped through his wine magazine.

"It's Annabeth."

"I don't care." Mr. D replied with a yawn, getting a huff out of the girl while everyone shook their heads.

"Ok, can you tell us what my quest is?" Naruto asked.

"I can." The god replied as his turned a page but said nothing more.

Drew actually got annoyed by this behavior and asked, "Will you tell us?" 

"Maybe." The god replied, turning another page like nothing big was going on, which seemed to enrage all those present.

"Mr. D, I feel this has gone on long enough, just tell us so we don't have to bother you anymore about it." Chiron replied tiredly, having gotten used to his co-worker antics.

"Fine, I guess I have to tell young Nathan his quest or my father will be pissed." Mr. D replied tiredly as he put his magazine down.

"It's Naruto."

"Again, I could care less." The god replied smugly. "Now, this quest is something odd that my father wants done. He wants you to go and retrieve the Crooked One's Scythe."

"You cannot be serious." Chiron replied with a somewhat panicked look.

"Hey, his words, not mine." Mr. D replied with a shrug.

"OK, but where is it?" Naruto asked with an eyebrow as the counselors all quietly conversed with one another as to WHY Naruto had to be the one to get a legendary weapon such as that. Hell, he was in agreement.

Chiron sighed tiredly as he sagged in his wheelchair. "That's the thing Naruto, no one knows where. A long time ago, they decided the Scythe was too valuable and had it locked away, but the problem was, they thought someone would just take it and use it. So they got _others_ involved in hiding the weapon and then had Lady Hecate made everyone forget, including herself."

"Great," Naruto replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Leave it to the gods to do something like that. "Where do I even start?"

"I would suggest going to the oracle, she might be able to shed some light on the subject." Chiron replied helpfully.

Naruto grimaced at that. He hadn't heard good things about her. He was told she was the creepiest thing alive….or dead or whatever. He then looked over to Percy and sighed. If Sea Form for Brains could do it and stay sane, then he could too. "Fine, I'll go see her." He said as he walked off to the attic.

Chiron watched the boy go sadly. He really hopped his kept his sanity, he needed it now more than ever.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Annabeth asked.

"I cannot be sure about that Annabeth, you know of your brother's condition." Chiron replied. "The children of Athena have always been extremely smart, but that comes with one of two Fatal Flaws. Pride, which is most common, or Madness. They say that there is a fine line between Genius and Insanity. Your brother? He crosses that line on a daily basis."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Drew replied, "He sort of lost it while fighting a giant scorpion."

"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"But he managed to snap himself out of that episode…..after loading both guns in its brain." Drew quietly replied, not thinking it prudent to mention the use of explosives.

"Damn." Clarisse replied and what could she have said? This had been a frequent thing for a long time. It was part of the reason she babied him, because she was worried for her little brother figure. She wanted to help but she had no clue. Looking to Annabeth, she seemed to be a lot more worried that she was, biting her lip and all.

And of course Mr. D wasn't helping, even if Madness was his area.

XXX

Naruto sighed as he made his way through the attic. It was old and dusty, like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time….and considering who was up here, he was not surprised. People were just too scared to stay up here for very long.

That made him chuckle though. His past self would have probably passed at coming up here entirely and would have tried to find a different way to figure things out. The old Naruto was deathly afraid of ghosts and other creepy things.

Walking past the various items other demi gods had collected over the years from their own quests, Naruto came face to face with the mummified remains of the Oracle. Her body had failed her long ago, but her spirit remained to continue to give out quests and prophecies. Many wondered why she continued to do so. Some theorized that since she never found another like her back in the olden days, she decided not to let Apollo choose her successor. Others just thought she was cursed.

Looking that corpse with disinterest, Naruto spoke. "Ancient Oracle, please tell me my destiny." That was another thing that irked him just as it had with the old him. Fate was something he never truly believed in. However, unlike his old world, fate here was a real thing. Back in his old world, the fate that everyone shared was death. People practically worshipped that, especially those who were Jashinists. Here, fate….or Fates controlled everyone's destiny.

The corpse rattled violently before green mist poured out of it slightly cracked open mouth and its hollow eyes. It then formed into a childlike version of himself…or rather the ninja version of his younger self, complete with black shorts and that white t-shirt with a strange fire like symbol on the chest.

However, the voice that came out of the mist was not his own, but the raspy voice of a creature that should have passed on centuries ago. _"You will travel to the nation's capital alone and find the man who freed the enslaved. There you will find the way."_ The mist form then changed from the young 5 to 7 year old to that of a 13 year old with that horrible orange jumpsuit. _"You shall help the children of the Crooked One and Mother Rhea to get more clues while gaining companions who will stay."_

The mist changed form once more to a 15 to 16 year old version of his old self. _"You shall interact with the Others to right the wrongs of the past and unite the broken minds."_ The mist changed once more to that of his other self's adult version, complete with Hokage robes. The mist version smiled at him and said, _"You shall find happiness in the new way things will be and who you've chosen."_ And with that, the mist rolled back into the corpse, with the attic being the familiar eerie quiet once more.

"Ok….the first part I get, but the rest is maddeningly unhelpful." Naruto grumbled as he left. Maybe the others will know.

XXX

"That…..is not helpful." Chiron replied.

"True, but the first part seems like it is telling you to go to Washington D.C….around the area of Abe Lincoln's monument." Annabeth deduced.

"I think so too, but the other stuff is what gets me." Naruto replied.

"Seems like the next part is finding the main children of The Crooked One and doing favors for them to get clues on where to go next." Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, replied with a shrug.

"As if doing this quest by yourself at first isn't hard enough." Clarisse mumbled, not happy that she was not able to go with Naruto.

"What worries me is the word Others…in plural." Chiron replied. "I feel that changes….big changes are coming."

"Wait. What does that mean?" Thalia asked for everyone with the same question. "What, are their other Gods out there besides the Greek Gods?" At Chiron's silence, she gained her answer. "NO WAY!?"

Chiron sighed as he looked far older than he did and Mr. D actually looked serious for once. "This is something that we usually like to keep secret until we feel that campers are ready."

"And what does that mean?" Percy asked in annoyance.

"It means that if you survive the young years of being a Greek Demi-God and we think that your mind can take it, we tell you about other Pantheons." Chiron replied tiredly. So called Greek Mythology was a headache in of itself and history has proven that Greeks do not get along with their Roman Counterparts. The rest of the world was a bigger headache though.

"It would make sense." Annabeth replied wisely. "If the Greek Gods exist, then why not the Eyptian or the Norse? Wait, what about the Romans? How does that work?"

Chiron sighed sadly. "If I am to tell you all this, you _must not_ speak of it to the others just yet. I say yet because I feel Naruto's quest will change how things are. Are we in agreement?" With a round of nods from the camp counselors, he continued; "Very well. The Roman side of things does exist, but it is different…oh how do I say this. Think of the Roman Gods as another personality of the Greeks."

"What? So the Gods have split personalities or something?" Lee Fletcher asked almost with a laugh.

"That…is exactly what it is." Mr. D replied darkly and then shuddered as he too had to deal with that.

"Hmmm, that explains a bit of the prophecy now….healing the broken minds, but how is the question." Naruto replied as he leaned against the wall, mauling it over.

"That might be true." Chiron replied with a shudder. That was going to a hard task, maybe even harder than finding an ancient weapon. "For now though, let's just say that the two sides do not get along due to difference in ideals. As for the Egyptain Side of things, all I can really tell you is that demi-gods do not exist or maybe they do but it is frowned upon. They mostly rely on Magicians of a sort. I know even less about Norse…something about a Hotel, but I can't remember that much on how things work for them."

"So I have find out on my own?" Naruto asked, getting a nod. "Great, this makes things even more difficult."

"This sucks that we can't help you when you leave!" Clarisse roared. "I want to be of help like you were with me in my quest for the Fleece!"

"More like dragged." Drew replied with some snark.

"True, but there are many loopholes to that prophecies' saying." Naruto replied, catching their attention once more. "It said that I will have to leave alone and then will gain my traveling companions along the way. That could mean a different number of things, will I meet you on the road or will I return at points and then you leave with me. There are many possibilities."

"I guess that could be a thing." Drew replied from her spot next to Silena as hope shined in her eyes.

"It might take years, but the gods have chosen you to do it, so I wouldn't refuse." Chiron replied tiredly. "But you are right in that you can return to rest for a while and possibly pick up another traveling companion. I mean, a lot can happen between now and then."

Naruto sighed for a moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose before something crawled into his vision and a dark grin overtook his features. Whipping out a gun so fast that no one could react fast enough, Naruto shot off a bullet that bypassed Mr. D and into a wall.

"Was that really necessary, Nathan?" Mr. D replied with a shaky sigh.

"Sorry, I saw a spider." Naruto replied with a shrug. "Charles, meet me in your cabin in a little bit, I need to check on a few projects before I go."

"Sure Naruto." Charles Becknedorf replied with a strained smile as Naruto headed off to the Athena Cabin. Once he was sure Naruto was gone, he sighed, "Man, I am going to miss him but damn he can be scary sometimes."

Annabeth smiled slightly. "While true, he is a valued member of this camp and my twin brother. Still, I worry for him since I don't think he feels any fear. Just the Madness." She also knew that Naruto was not as afraid of spiders as she was and mostly killed them to protect her and their siblings. It seems like he almost enjoys it.

"Feh, that makes him stronger I guess. Not feeling any fear would be awesome." Clarisse replied with a half smirk, but everyone could tell that she was worried about the blond.

"Yes well, this meeting is adjourned." Chiron replied, "Annabeth, I am sure you can help him pack correctly. Once done, we will see him off."

XXX

"Are you sure you have all of the clothes and rations for this trip." Annabeth asked hurriedly to her twin who looked like he had nothing on him. Just his usual clothes and his zipped up hoodie. "Are they really in those seals?"

"Yes, Annie, I am fully packed." Naruto chuckled as his doting sister. While annoying at times, he was glad she did that, signifying she cared. He could tell she had been a lot more concerned about him leaving than she showed in the meeting.

"Why must you call me that?" Annabeth whined.

"Because it bothers you so much." Naruto replied as he smirked at her as they walked through their cabin, making her pout. They then stopped at a work bench with a boy named Malcolm. Like all of their siblings, he had blond hair and gray eyes and he was actually the second in command of the cabin. The top spot was Annabeth's. Also, Malcolm was one of the few in the cabin that could help Naruto with his seals since he could actually understand them to a point. "Hey Malcolm, have you managed to figure out the other half of that seal?"

Malcolm looked up from his studies and smiled at his strange brother. He liked Naruto a lot and his seals where always a great challenge for him. "Indeed. Your notes on the first half helped immensely and I was able to decipher the other half in a short amount of time. The man who made this seal was indeed a genius and considering who it was in your other self's past life, I know he was one. Too bad you will be the only one to be able to use it in this world." He said as he handed Naruto his notes back along with the new notes, which Naruto put in his hoodie's pockets. That was another thing; those pockets were laced with a storage seal, effectively creating something akin to a pocket dimension….literally

"I see, thank you, I will look at these later." Naruto replied calmly.

"Oh and good luck with your quest, I feel that you will need it….a lot." Malcolm replied with a slight grimace. He knew of his brother's quest since Annabeth told him. He was not envious of getting a quest that could last years.

Naruto smiled, "Thank you."

"Oh and let me know how Project Shroud works."

"I will."

XXX

Naruto entered the cabin of Hephaestus with ease since he had been in there before, signifying that he had the Smith God's permission to enter. He immediately started to sweat though because of the heat. The children of Hephaestus were always working on something, so they had forges IN their cabin.

A dark skinned girl noticed him and smirked. She wore ripped up jeans, a white tank top, and a red bandana to tie up he dark hair. She also had a band aide on her chin. "Naruto, right on time. Charlie is done."

The blond nodded, "Thank you Nyssa." He said as they walked for to Charles' forge. "Hey Beck, how are the projects going?"

Charles Beckendorf whipped sweat from his forehead and smiled, "Well, those strange knives for Project Zeus' Lightning are done. You only wanted a few of them so I put them in these pouches that you wanted made." Charles replied as he handed Naruto a couple of pouches that resembled the Kunai Hostlers from the other world. After Naruto strapped them on his legs, Becknedorf continued. "While Project Swarm is done, you said yourself that your pocket seal is not infinite. So with the large amount we made, you will be only able to keep a few on you until your seals get better."

"I figured as much." Naruto replied as he took a small jar of black….things from the Son of the Smith God and put it in his pocket as well. "I trust that you will put them in a secure place for when I do find a way to carry them."

"You don't have to worry about that blondie." Nyssa replied with a smirk. "They were fun and challenging to work on, we'll keep them safe for you."

"Good." Naruto replied before a sheepish look was on his face. "I am also out of bullets again."

Charles laughed nervously at that. "Yeah, I figured you would be so I had these made." He said as he put a black case on the table. "In this box are more bullets, but these are different. Each clip will refill no matter what happens since these are magically enhanced. The other bullets are magic enhanced as well but they have elemental properties to them."

Naruto smirked at that. "I like it, very useful. You always like to add new things to them don't you?"

"Hey, you are using a different kind of weapon than most of us, why not experiment?" Charles asked rhetorically.

"Heh, good point." Naruto replied.

Charles then got a sad look, "Hey man, be careful out there."

"I will." Naruto replied with a smile that made his two friends smile back.

As he left the cabin Charles looked to her sibling and smirked. "You know…"

He didn't get to finish because Nyssa cut him off. "Stop right there. Yes, I do like him but you of all people know that romance in not what we are good at. Sure, we made a bond as he likes to call it, but even an idiot can see he is oblivious to anyone liking him. It would just be awkward."

"Wow, never thought I'd see you give up like that." Charles replied in shock. "You know Drew is still trying."

Nyssa smiled sadly, "and that is where we are different. I am not trying at all. Besides, I am pretty sure that with this quest, Drew will finally have a rival. I think I will root for the rival."

"Oh boy." Charles replied nervously as he saw the vindictive look in the girl's eye. He wanted no part in what caused that.

XXX

"Mr. D? Why are you seeing me off?" Naruto asked confused since the God of Wine never did that with anyone else. Well, other than his own children that is.

Mr. D looked uncomfortable as he shoved a black box into Naruto's hands. "Your grandfather, Ares, demanded that I give you this….along with your mother. They can be quite…persuasive when they want to be. Said something about them being more than what they are. So just take it and be gone Nathan." The Wine God then trudged off before stopping and sighing. "Oh and good luck I guess."

Chiron looked at the scene with a slight smile. Mr. D might seem aloof, but even he knew the man cared for his charges…in his own way. Walking up to the blond, "Well my boy, when you are done saying your goodbyes, Argus will take to into the city where a bus will take you to Washington D.C."

"Thanks Chiron." Naruto replied with a sad smile. It would probably be a long time before he saw his teacher again for some time, so he hugged the man. Chiron, while shocked at first, leaned into the embrace, wishing Naruto luck. "Don't forget, you can direct your madness in good ways instead of letting it control you."

"I know, thank you." Naruto replied with a smile before going to the next person, who happened to be his friend.

Turning towards his friends, he spotted Percy first and frowned, making the boy sweat, which he often loved to do. He guessed it has something to do with his past self's love of pranks. "Percy, make sure you have my sister's back, I would hate to comeback just to kill you if something happened to her.

"Don't worry about it, we are a good team." Percy replied nervously.

"Good." Naruto said before going to his sisters in Annabeth, Thalia, and Clarisse. After all, they were what he considered the main part of his family, always looking out for him when he really felt that he didn't need it. He smiled and said, "Well, I guess this is it for a while."

"Yeah I guess, but you better use those skills I taught you to good use so that you can return." Clarisse replied as she locked his head to give him a noggie before that turned into a hug.

"Look sharp!" Thalia said when the half hug was done and she zapped the blond.

"Yeah, I already know you want me to be careful big sis." Naruto replied with a smile. "You be careful too, don't want you turning into a tree again." And that was the truth. It really hurt to see his friend and big sister in a state like that for these years. He was just glad Clarisse asked/dragged him on the quest to get the fleece.

"I am more worried about you." Thalia replied as she hugged him, "So you better get back here safely!"

"Heh, I will." Naruto as he was suddenly in a tight embrace by his twin sister. She really didn't have to say anything as they knew what the other was thinking most of the time. He even felt the wetness on his shoulder and held her tighter.

"Promise me you'll come back." She demanded.

"Hey, I'll be back….I promise." Naruto replied as he lone tear escape his own eyes. That was something both of his selves shared. The fruition of a promise. He always kept it.

"I believe you." Annabeth replied as she backed up to stand next to Percy.

Finally, was his best friend, Drew Tanaka. She walked up to him with a somewhat sad smile on her lips. She had really changed since meeting him and that was good. Still, she was rather shallow at times, but he didn't mind it too much. "So…this is it huh?"

"Yep, but like I said to my sisters, I promise I'll be back." Naruto replied with a smile. "Don't worry too much."

Drew sighed and said, "For such a smart ass, you can be an idiot some times."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked in confusion.

Drew just shook her head. "I guess smart guys don't get it." She paused as she gave him a hug "Come back safe." She followed up before planting a kiss on his cheek before walking away quickly. That left Naruto in a state confusion as he held the spot where she kissed him.

Chiron just smirked at the scene as he led Naruto away as his sister glared at the daughter of Aphrodite. Although, he had a wait a second as Naruto suddenly wiped out a bb gun of all things and shot it off at a seemingly random direction. This confused everyone until Percy suddenly cried out in pain as he held the back of his head. Naruto looked back at Percy out the corner of his eyes with a big smirk and said, "I meant what I said Percy, you better keep her safe."

As he walked away, everyone just laughed at Percy's expense.

XXXX

Naruto sighed as he sat in the front seat of the van Argus drove. With the City of New York in the distance, he thought where his journey will take him. He also thought of his home in Camp Half Blood, his sisters along with his best friend, and why she had kissed him.

Oh well, he had a long time to think about all this.

He had a long journey ahead of him.

XXXXX

 **End of this chapter. I hope you all liked it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Journey of a Demi-God**

 **Chapter 3**

 **I suppose i should get a chapter out. I am currently working to revamp Foxfire seeing as the old version...is bad in my opinion. I thought i could just continue it but no, i am not going to do that. Besides i have many new ideas for it, heh.**

 **Anyway, here is the next chapter of Journey of a Demi-God!**

 **XXXXX**

 _~July 3, 2012~ Washington DC_

After arriving in Washington DC via a charter bus, he managed to get back in New York, which was filled with singing old people by the way, Naruto made his way into the city as cautious as could be. After all, he was a demi god and danger could just be around the corner.

Because of that sad fact, he decided to wait a day to go to the actual Lincoln Memorial. After all, he was tired from riding in a bus for a few days and not in any condition to fight. So he managed to get a room from a classy hotel called the Holiday Inn Capital. It was near where he wanted to go and it really didn't cost him much because of one simple fact.

He had kept the Lotus Hotel card from his sister's first adventure with Percy.

After all, it got them that cab ride out of the city no problem, so why not keep it and reuse it?

Anyway, once at the hotel, he learned of a special tour going on for the 4th of July. Seeing as it was a great opportunity to go in and get what he needed, he signed up. Hopefully nothing bad happened. Oh who was he kidding, he was a demi-god. He was bound to attract the wrong kind of attention.

It was time activate Project Shroud.

So, he sat down in the lobby and took out his new Iphone. It was a new phone made by Apple and it was pretty simple to use. Plus for any child of Athena, the internal workings of such a phone were on display for them. So it was with great ease that many of Athena's children were able to make apps for these phones for the general public.

However, for a demi-god to have a cell phone in general was like a having a blow horn handy and yelling out your position to monsters every few seconds. No one really knew why, it just did. So that was why he and his siblings made a new app just for demi-gods. The Shroud. Once activated, it masked the presence of a demi-god from those monsters and with an added program of tracking nearby monsters as well.

Of course it wasn't perfect...yet. It of course didn't mask the smell of a demi-god, so the monsters could still track them that way. But thankfully, the built in radar helped with keeping away from monsters.

So, as Naruto turned on his phone and activated the app, he smiled. Sure, that small amount of time he had turned on the phone to the point of activation of the app was enough to broadcast his presence for a small amount of time, but he was sure that they wouldn't be able to find him yet. And if they did…they would either be dead with a celestial bullet wound or he would avoid them completely.

It was brilliant. And the person who made the Iphone itself? Even more brilliant since it was none other than Steve Jobs himself.

A worthy son of Athena indeed.

But now, he was tired…tomorrow, he would find his way.

XXX ~ _July 4_ _th_ _, 2007_ ~

The next morning, Naruto made sure he was ready by going through his things as he took that out of his pocket dimension. In his tired state the other day, he didn't even check the contents of the box he had gotten from Mr. D. It was also not a good idea to open a box with potential weapons on a bus full of old people.

Opening the box, Naruto was greeted with the sight of three deadly looking guns. The first two looked like they belonged together and they were both a metallic black and had a longer barrel. They sort of reminded him of a pair of guns he saw in an anime called Hellsing. Opening the magazines, he saw what looked like all black bullets.

Also, words where printed in cursive on the guns with a bloody red color. However, the odd thing was, they were both for the word War, but in Greek and Latin. Pólemos for the Greek War and Bellum for the Latin War.

Thinking about it, did both version of his grandfather know about him and they both unknowingly made a gun for him? If that was the case, maybe that was his 'in' for future interaction with the Roman side of things. Very curious.

Finally was the last gun. It was as long as the other two but it possessed a silver barrel and a black handle and the odd thing about the handle was that it had a single claw like appendage on the bottom like it could be used as a weapon as well. Opening the magazine in this, the bullets were gold this time. And Greek words imprint on this gun. _Koukouvágia sto fo̱s tou fengarioú_ , which basically translated into Owl in the Moonlight. Interesting.

Seeing a note on the inside of the box, he took it and read:

 _Naruto,_

 _These guns are very powerful and should only be used on your enemies, but seeing you are my son, I feel that is common sense. The gun named Owl in the Moonlight is from me and if you can believe it or not, Artemis as well. It is made of silver and I am sure that part of it will come in handy down the road, but the bullets are made of something far more destructive. They are made of Imperial Gold. I had to put in a few favors to even get that. Also, like your new bullets that the Child of Hephaestus gave you, these too will return to the magazine when used…even if you make them explode._

 _Now, the other two guns are from your grandfather, Ares. The guns are made from Imperial gold as well but are purposefully colored black. I am unsure as to how Ares got these made, but I guess it does not matter as long as they are helping you. Oh and the bullets are made from Stygian Iron. Very deadly against all manner of beings. Please use those with care._

 _Good Luck my son,_

 _Athena_

Naruto nodded to himself and pocketed the guns and left his room to attend the tour of Washington DC. These guns were indeed powerful. He would need to be careful.

XXX

The U.S. Capital Building was a sight to behold. In the National Mall tour, it was one of his first stops. It was where everything went on in the government, what with it having the Congress and the Senate house in it. You could even see various politicians roaming the halls and taking pictures with a few tourists here and there.

And yet….Naruto could not careless about those people. Politics were never his thing and sort of the reason why he let his sister run the cabin. He also was not a fan of the current President, Barack Obama. Come to thing of it, he wasn't a fan of any of the recent presidents.

However, he could appreciate the years of architectural glory this place gave off. His sister would absolutely love it. She didn't get a chance to roam these halls the last time they were there.

Still, architecture was his sister's thing as she viewed it like art and his past self ran into two artists that left a bad impression on him. One was Deidara, the Mad Bomber. As his nickname implies…he liked making things explode. He shaped things out of clay and made them implode….in people's faces. Hell, he made one so big that he almost destroyed the Sand Village with it. So yeah, his version of art was instant and short lived.

Then there was Sasori, the puppet master, whose version of art was long lasting but in a rather gruesome way. You see, he made people into puppets. His greatest achievement was making a powerful ninja, the Third Kazekage, a man who could control Iron Sand, into a puppet. Then there was Sasori, himself. He made himself into a living puppet with the only living piece as his heart.

So, you can see why, even now, Naruto was not a fan of art. He could still appreciate art like old buildings and the Art Museums the tour group went through, but he would not obsess about it like some people.

But that left the question of what Naruto felt strongly about. No, he did not want to build buildings and structures like most of his siblings. Naruto wanted to build…the future. And maybe this quest would help him in this endeavor. Annabeth had her dream of making some of the best architectures in the world, but him? He was not sure, but he did want to affect the future in someway. Maybe this quest was just what he needed. Maybe somewhere on this quest, he would find what he was looking for.

Anyway, when they went to the National Archives, he imagined his siblings frothing at the mouth just be in that place and learning all there was. But for him, it was just a tour, not much actual learning and reading was involved. Shame.

Finally, when they went to the memorial center of the National Mall, he was able to get to where he wanted. Of course seeing the biggest memorial, the Washington Monument, with ease was a plus and he actually rode the inside elevator all the way to the top, so that was fun.

However, once his group actually got to the Lincoln Memorial that was when the problems started. Among the crying kids complaining about sore feet and other complaints kids had, his Iphone went off, alerting him to the presence of a nearby monster. The radar could not yet pick up which one it even was, but it showed the presence of a monster that was nearly on top of them.

How could that be? The app was supposed to detect monsters nearly half a mile away. So why was it glitching like this? The blond just shook his head. This was new technology after all and the app was fairly new as well. Still, he would be alerting his older brothers and sisters about this.

For now though, he had to get out of here alive and keep these people alive as well. There were many ways he could do that. He could lure the monster away with his presence and leave the group altogether, but his tour guide was nitpicky about that and often checked if everyone was still there. Or, he could let the monster come here and cause all sorts of trouble for him. What to do…

 _ROAR!_

The sound of a lion's roar made his choice for him as the group panicked. The Mist hadn't settled in just yet and they actually saw the monster in all of it glory and Naruto grimaced. It wasn't just any old lion, it was the Nemian Lion of all things to come after him and he wasn't even that powerful!

It took Hercules to defeat it with brute force, so how was he going to kill it with just his guns?!

It roared again and the cries of the tour group's children brought Naruto back into focus. He needed to get these people out of here. Thankfully, his relationship with Hecate was good as she had agreed to help him recreate certain seals from his past life. "Lady Hecate, I need your help. Please use the mist to get these people to safety!"

There was a boom of thunder in the distance and the Tour Guide was suddenly not a quivering mess on the ground. She was all gung-ho about getting her group out of there, yelling something about terrorists.

"Great." Naruto deadpanned as he watched everyone leave and for some reason, a few of the tourists were furiously writing stuff down. The blond just shook his head and focused back on the lion, not noticing the Tour Guide stare directly at him for a moment with a smirk before leaving with her group.

"Dunno what you did Lady Hecate, but I hope it was for the better…" Naruto grumbled, really hoping this didn't bite him in the ass.

Turning his attention fully on the lion now, he had to jump out of the way of a claw swipe that nearly took his head off. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a few small balls he and Beck created and threw them at and around the metal furred cat. As soon as they burst, the lion backed up and growled hatefully at the blond. The reason for this was that they were Greek fire bombs and as shown, very handy to use. However, Beck made sure they didn't last long, but it gave Naruto enough time to think up a plan on the fly.

As the beast prowled around the fire, Naruto thought, _Ok, this beast is known for its impenetrable fur. So much so that only Hercules could defeat it with pure strength…which probably inflated his ego. However, its eyes and mouth are not so easily protected and are of normal vulnerability…but the mouth is a no go with all those teeth. My only options are my guns as my current set of jutsu replicas aren't enough or to wide spread. To that effect, I feel that the armor piercing magazine that Beck gave me will work here._ _However, I will need to get in close for full effect._

Naruto noticed that the fire was dwindling as expected, but looking around some more; he noticed something odd about Lincoln's Stone chair…like that was writing showing up in the fire. Shaking his head, he needed to focus on the beast first; he could figure that out later. He found his internal plan to be good, but as he was now, his reflexes weren't quick enough to do what was needed. _Can I direct it? Push the madness in the right direction? Sure, why not._ Inserting the magazine in one of his glocks, he then took out another Greek fire bomb, and then ran at the beast.

The lion roared in anger as it too charged at him. The area went quiet for a moment before Naruto laughed loudly as a giant smile formed on his face before he threw the bomb into the roaring lion's mouth. It then proceeded to push up onto it hind legs as the fire burned it mouth. Naruto then slid underneath the beast and unloaded the gun as he passed underneath it.

One bullet was enough as it passed through the jaw of the beast, bringing the fire with it into the beast's brain and then outward. One was indeed enough, but Naruto was not in full control yet and the Madness made sure it was dead as each bullet went into each organ.

Overkill? Yes, but it was effective.

As the beast fell on its side behind him, Naruto took a big breath and when he exhaled, he was back to normal and then smiled. "That seemed to have worked. I can direct my Madness to aid me in battle." He said aloud to himself, almost forgetting that he took down the Nemian Lion with Armor Piercing Bullets…and a bit of Greek fire. That is until he saw a flash of light that made him turn around. As soon as he did that, the Spoil of War latched onto him and fused with his hoodie. That made it shift it into that of a golden hooded trench coat instead of a hoodie, and the lion's head acted as the hood.

"Interesting, this will come in handy in the future." Naruto replied as he observed the quality of the trench coat before he froze up. There was something else he was forgetting. He turned back to the Lincoln memorial to see that there was nothing there. "Then what was that? Could the fire have revealed what that was?

Naruto took out another of the bombs and looked at it in intently before tossing it at the spot on Lincoln's chair. As soon as it hit, it of course bounced off the chair and onto the ground where it proceeded to explode. However, the glow of the Greek fire was enough to reveal what was written on the wall of the giant chair.

 _Many have joined this Hunt,  
and you have attained the first clue because of this stunt.  
Many demi gods think that having powers is a stitch,  
but if you lived in Salem, people would think you a witch!_

Naruto raised an eyebrow at that. Did the first part mean people have been chosen to find the scythe before or….did people find out about the scythe on their own before looking on their own. Interesting, that must mean he is just picking up where they left off. _Oh great, I am basically the demi-god equivalent of Nickolas Cage's character of Ben Gates from National Treasure._ Naruto shook his head with a smile before deciphering the other part. _So Salem huh?_ _Demi-Gods existing at the beginning of this country seemed to have kick started the Salem Witch Trails then…might as well go check and see what clue I can find there._

XXX

Walking back into Washington DC and away from the National Mall, the blond son of Athena noticed a lot more security forces marching around but for some reason, none of them even noticed his presence.

"Just want is going on?"

"That is simple." A voice said, making him turn around to see what looked like the tour guide. She was a raven haired woman with her hair in a regal looking pony tail. Her tour guide uniform was still on as well. "Ah, so you recognized me."

"Yeah, so who are you really." Naruto replied cautiously, sensing something was defiantly off about this whole situation.

The woman nodded to herself. "You asked for my help not long ago. I made sure those people got to safety and made them see you in a good light. You see, this city sees you as a hero of sorts. You defeated the Nemiam Lion, but they saw the ordeal as a young boy standing up to terrorists and winning."

"I see, and what do I have to do for you this time…Lady Hecate." Naruto asked.

"So glad you remember me, but then again, I did help you uncover the secret to using jutsu the demi-god way." Hecate stated with a smirk before it was wiped off her face. "I lead you here for a reason. That clue to Salem has a long and painful history to me. Those fools in Salem killed my children out of fear and their own religious ways. What I want you to do there is put my children to rest….then you shall have your next clue."

"And how exactly will I help put the dead to rest?" Naruto asked curiously.

"It is simple really, have them _reflect_ on their past." Hecate replied. "That is all I can tell you for now. But I will say this; I had a legacy there that took a lot of the heat for my girls. It was because of her scent, she was child of the Big Three after all. Their children almost never have good endings."

"Very well, I shall help you descendants find peace some way." Naruto replied calmly.

"Thank you." Hecate stated before completely disappearing and everything else going back to normal, but still no one noticing him.

Naruto sighed, "I need to get in contact with Hermes…"

XXX

"So let me get this straight, you want me to give this package to your sister and your friends and this is going to be a reoccurring thing." Hermes asked incredulously. They were currently in a UPS office, getting strange looks from other customers and employees alike.

"Yes, I have the drachma if that is the problem, but I want update my friends and family about where I am and in this one case, pull a small prank on my siblings….which is something I thought you would appreciate, Lord Hermes."

Hermes looked back at the package and used his Godly powers to look at the contents and nearly laughed. "Wow, you are really flaunting that, aren't you? But yeah, I can do this for you seeing as this is just a small thing compared to all the other things I do for everyone else."

"Thank you." Naruto replied before starting to walk away.

"You know, in a way, you could possibly be a child of mine…..in my dreams." Hermes muttered aloud.

"No, I have the pranking skills that I do because of my past self. It is just too bad he never used those skills in his own ninja career, but then again, he was an idiot."

"Oh, you shouldn't talk about yourself like that." Hermes stated, laughing but as Naruto turned around to give him a retort, the Messenger God was already gone.

Thinking about it, Hermes did have a point. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Naruto thought he heard more laughing before shaking his head beginning his trek to Salem, Massachusetts on foot. "Ugh….this is going to get old really quick."

XXXXX

 _Omake!_

Drew didn't know quite how to take the situation in front of her. You see, the entire Athena cabin were on the ground in the middle of the ring of cabins, frothing at the mouth, Annabeth looked worse as she was pulling at her hair and screaming about the unfairness of the world.

Percy was looking inside a cardboard box with a look of disbelief and a doom cloud over his head. Drew couldn't take it anymore and marched up to the Son of Poseidon. "What the heck has gotten everyone so…upset?!"

Percy just handed her a newspaper with the headline 'Tourist saves nation's capital from terrorist.' Percy just shook his head. "It is so not fair. I fight a monster and blamed for something stupid and people want my head. Naruto fights a monster and is hailed as a hero."

That actually made Drew laugh, Naruto did seem to have better luck with the Mist. She then dug through the box to see photos of all the close places in Washington DC. In them, it showed Naruto posing in places like a library and at monuments. That must be why the Athena kids were all in an uproar. Naruto had a chance to learn a lot of new things and they didn't.

"I believe Naruto is…oh that is that new word….trolling? Yes, I believe Naruto is trolling his siblings hard on this one." A man said next to her.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Clarisse said as she looked at pictures of Naruto fighting the Nemian Lion and smiling. "Heh, I did well in teaching him."

"Yes, but I wonder who took those battle pictures." Drew commented.

"That is a mystery to me as well." The man said while scratching his head.

"Wait, who are you anyway?" Drew asked.

"I'm Batman." The man replied in a deep voice.

"Uh huh." Drew replied, turning around to grab another photo and show him the difference between them. She was sure Naruto made someone else take the fun photos, but the battle one, she was sure no mortal took those. However, the man was gone….just a distant laugh was in a place. "Wait, where did he go?"

"He disappeared." Percy replied somberly. "Maybe he was Batman."

"Don't be ridicules." Drew replied with a wave of her hand and then went to look for the man.

A distance away in the bushes, the Stroll Brothers were watching in awe. "Dad is so awesome." Conner stated.

"Yep, but do you think Naruto is related to us somehow? That prank is awesome!" Travis replied.

"Anything is possible."

XXXXXX

 **please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Journey of a Demi-God**

 **Chapter 4**

XXXX _July 12_ _th_ _, 2012 –Forest River Conservation….near Salem._

Naruto was tired that much was for sure. He had been walking from Washington DC. He was tired of this quest already, but most of all, he was tired of walking through all this wilderness! Those annoying bugs just would not leave him alone!

Oh sure, his lion based trench coat shielded him from them, but not his face and any other exposed part of his body. Still, he should have bought some bug spray in Boston, but he didn't feel like dealing with a big city. Now he was paying for it.

Thankfully, he was suddenly distracted when his phone rang. As he put it to his ear, someone immediately begun talking. "I see at least one of us has decided to use the Shroud Program I developed. How is it by the way?"

Naruto was confused for a second before he smirked. "What? No hello Steve? Can't say I am surprised, we are all alike." He replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, I thought it would be a good thing to have in a quest like this. The program works, but is a little slow on the uptake of certain monsters."

"Oh, what kind of monsters are we talking about?" replied Steve.

"The Nemian Lion for one." The blond replied with a grumble. "Damn thing only detected the monster when it was nearly upon me."

"Hmm, an odd glitch, but I thank you little brother for your info." The voice of Steve said, "But what you have is an early release of the Iphone 5 with some prototype software, please keep that in mind. But rest assured, I will send out an update for both the phone and the program soon."

"Thank you Steve, I hope it won't be too much trouble for your mortal employee's to do." Naruto replied as he kept on walking.

"Oh they don't know about it, me and my partner are working this, after all, we want a good detection system in place for every one of us."

"That's a good th-" Naruto started to say but was cut off by a beeping sound. The same beeping that came from his detection system. "Oh great, it just went off."

"Oh what is it this time?" Steve asked concerned.

Naruto looked around and saw that he was in a clearing surrounded by trees and on those trees were black pigeon-like birds. Very familiar birds. "I can tell you these are not ravens. They are Stymphalian Birds!"

"Oh my, well good luck with that, call me back if you survive." Steve replied a little too friendly at that. But he was right, Naruto had to survive this encounter and not many did…unless you lived in camp.

"Gee, thanks." Naruto replied as he left his phone arm fell to his side as the light went off. He put it in his pocket as he eyed the birds. There was something different about them from last time. For one they were indeed black instead of the brownish colors from last time. Another was the metal on their beaks. It certainly wasn't the celestial bronze he was used to, that was for sure. The only metal that looked that ominous was Stygian Iron.

Naruto sighed as he grabbed his guns he got from his grandfather, Ares. "Just what have these things gotten themselves into? What could have changed them so much?" He asked himself as he glared at them before closing his eyes. _Ok, let's do this again. Channel the Madness towards these birds. Let it take of them._

 ** _No_**.

That statement alone shocked Naruto and caused him to open his eyes. But he wasn't in the clearing anymore. No, he was in a void. A void of complete darkness.

"No?" Naruto asked aloud, shocked a voice from his own mind spoke. He felt that this didn't bode well for him if he actually started hearing voices.

"That is right, no! I don't feel like fighting a simple battle like this for you." A voice near himself stated.

Out of the endless darkness of his mind, another version of himself appeared, but the eyes were off. They were blue and red and he was somewhat dressed like his past self and his new self. It was odd and unnerving.

"I don't understand." Naruto admitted. "Why wouldn't you want to fight in my place? Usually you have anyway by forcing yourself in. Now you don't want to fight, that makes no sense."

"HA! I am your insanity, I don't have to make sense!" The other replied.

Naruto sweatdropped at that. How odd was it that your insanity made sense? "So what now?"

"Oh that is simple, we kill those birds with something I have learned to use throughout the years. The Focus?"

"And that would be?"

"Oh it is something that very few of Athena's children inherit from her. Ever wonder why she is so good at what she does? The Focus is the key." The other looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh and I think it is a good idea if you get going, the birds are coming for you"

"And how do I get back out?"

"Oh simple! Close your eyes and then open them, duh!" the other said before disappearing with a song, "Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination!" That made Naruto's eye twitch as he thought about the Willy Wonka movie.

Naruto did as instructed and found himself in the middle of the clearing again, but the birds were all flying around him now, ready to tear him to shreds.

(To make things interesting, please play Lion by Hollywood Undead)

But that is not what caught his attention. It seemed that his Focus was now active. Everything was going in slow motion or so it seemed and he was able to think in over drive as his mind was already coming up with multitudes of ways to kill these things off and how Hercules himself did it.

Quickly pointing at some of the monster birds, he started to let loose a hail of bullets, unaware that many pairs of eyes were on him, some not just being the eyes of the enemy.

With each bullet that was shot out, they collided with one or two birds, causing them to disappear in a cloud of black smoke and that seemed rather odd to the blond. Especially so since that black smoke seemed to stay in the air, making it more difficult to aim.

But the thing was, this Focus was rather intense. He may be a son of Athena, but he was just getting used to this new power and he felt it weakening as it made his head pound. His arms were also getting tired from using heavier guns that he was not used to.

And the monster birds took advantage of that momentary weakness and slammed into his wrists, knocked the guns out of his hands and they then slammed into his back, forcing him onto his knees, his hood falling onto his head.

 _Ugh, this is not how it was supposed to go!_ He thought in anger as the birds continued to slam into his back. Even if the trench coat protected him from harmful blows, he was still able to feel the multitude of hits he was taking.

"You are right, this is not how this was supposed to go. Give it another go! Show these birds who's boss!"

 _But my guns are over there and even if they reappeared in my pocket dimension, I won't have time to retrieve them!_

"Oh please, quit thinking with just your guns! Think of another ways to beat these birds! You haven't been researching ways to use those jutsu all this time for nothing!"

With that the voice went quiet and the Focus returned. He felt his head pound once more but it wasn't as painful as before. That was when he remembered his research and the memories that lead to it. One specific memory came to the surface and that was when his past self was being taught the Gentle Fist by his wife so they both could teach it to their first born. That style was something he taught himself in this world along with something else. The Wind Manipulation. He had found a way to combine them!

No, this was far from over. "ENOUGH!" Naruto screamed at the birds still going at him and with a clap of his hands imbued with wind chakra, he sent a wave of loud wind, sending them all away from him. "I am not done yet!"

Naruto looked at all of his enemies though the eye holes of the lion themed hood, making him look pissed and he was. He was pissed that these birds were giving him so much trouble and he was pissed that he lost round one. "Alright, round two then." He said as the wind picked up and surrounded his hands. "Grandfather Zeus, please give me a boost!"

There was a sudden clap of thunder , causing all the birds to give out a loud caw and the weather around the area to take a sudden shift to the stormy as the winds picked up around the blond. With another loud caw, the birds all dove towards the blond.

He was ready for them this time. With the Focus still on, he was able to target each and every bird that came his way. To him, they all came at him in slow motion. Each and every bird was hit by his wind covered palms, shredded in an instant by the raging winds. This was not Gentle Fist anymore. That style relied on a target that had chakra and to manipulate said energy to their advantage without the target knowing. This style, which he called Fist of the Tempest, manipulated the wind into razor sharp blades and violently swirling them into the enemy.

But again, he noticed the black smoke that these birds were turning into and it was once again beginning to obscure his vision, but he did not let that bother him this time. He had found that the Focus could make out shapes on the smoke so his battle remained at the same pace as before. Quick and violent.

Finally it came to an end as the birds stopped attacking him. Making sure this was not another trap, he used the wind to blow away the black smoke. He found there were only a few birds left that were hovering in mid-air, their red eyes glaring at him. They once again let out a loud caw as one. But something strange began to occur. They flew into each other exploding into that black smoke and that in itself started to swirl in a maelstrom of darkness that got bigger when it began to suck in the remaining black smoke that he noticed just hanging in the air.

When the black storm stopped, it revealed itself to be a far larger version of all the birds he just killed and it looked angry.

But so was Naruto as he unconsciously brought more and more wind to him and with the help of the watching Zeus, his hands looked like miniature storms. "I have had enough of you birds! I know you are being manipulated in some way, otherwise this wouldn't be a thing! But seeing the logic in this won't help me defeat you! I see that you are pissed, but so am I!" He roared at the giant bird of darkness, descended upon him, its deadly beak ready to run him through. Naruto jumped towards the bird, his right hand outstretched, ready to carve this monster up. "SO HERE IS THE WRATH OF THE LION!" he shouted unconsciously making it a pun to how he looked.

But the bird saw it a different way. It saw the violent winds all around the blond's outstretched fist concentrate into the head of a giant lion. It cawed in anger and fright as the lion seemed to roar with the storm of winds all around them and as the lion collided with the bird, it finally let out a shriek of pain as it was torn to shreds. And instead of more black smoke, it disappeared the usual way a monster did, through the yellow smoke and sulfur smell.

The lion themed blond landed back on the ground, panting heavily. "Yeah, something is definitely going on, but what is the question is…what." That was when he felt the pain in his head pound away at his brain in a pulse, making him wince in pain and the Focus finally leave him. He would have to think of that subject for another time because now…he was very tired. He was already physically tired from walking from New York to the outskirts of Salem. Add that to the exertion of fighting off that relentless enemy. Now though, it was mental exhaustion that was catching up with him. The Focus had overtaxed his mental faculties. He was done.

As he felt his body fall to the ground, he also felt himself be caught by someone. He knew he wasn't going to get a good look at this person as he was already falling asleep, but he was able to turn his head and making out the form of a raven haired girl with a silver circlet on her head.

"Thou did well, Naruto." He heard as he just smiled and let darkness take him.

XXX

 _July 13_ _th_ _2012_

The blond's eyes slowly opened but he had to close them rather quick due to the light. He opened them again but slower this time. Directly above him was cloth that he identified belonging to a tent. So that meant someone found him. Did they see his battle or had some mortal felt sorry for a homeless kid and helped him out? Weirder things have happened.

"Ah, I see that you are awake." That voice, it sounded so familiar. It sounded like something from his childhood.

Turning his head to take a look, his eyes widened comically when he saw the form of a young girl, around 2 years younger than him, probably 12, with auburn air. Her attire consisted of leather hunting gear. She was also laying down on her elbow not far from him. He knew exactly who this girl was.

Oh yes, he knew her alright, so much so that he strained his body to get into a kneeling position in front of her. "My apologies Lady Artemis. I did not realize I was in your hunting zone, but my rather odd quest directed me to Salem."

The red headed girl frowned at his form and said, "Why do you feel that you are compelled to speak to me so respectfully, Naruto? Given our history, I felt that you would be more comfortable around me and the hunters."

Despite himself, Naruto did smile as he kept his head bowed. "For that reason alone Lady Artemis. I was just a seven your old who had gained your good side. I am much older now and do not wish to offend you."

At this, Artemis rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders with a dry look on her face. "Oh brother, you swear to stay a virgin, turn a few pig headed males into animals, and string a few hundred sex slavers up by their balls and everyone thinks you hate men in general. Look at me Naruto!" Said blond slowly raised his head to look at her, but she did notice his face was pale. "I do not hate all men, just the pigs and the most evil of men. I do keep most men at arm's length due to my oath, but I still consider you a friend, so end this silly charade."

Naruto let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding and smiled as he sat back down. "You don't know how good it is to hear that. When I grew up a bit, I feared that I was lose a friend."

Artemis smiled gently at that. "That is understandable given all the stories about me from idiotic men, but just relax. I am sure Zoe doesn't want to hear this as well."

"Thou are right, Thee does not." Zoe replied as she walked into the tent and gave Naruto a look of annoyance.

Naruto smiled softly with a twinkle in his eyes and said, "Nice to see you again big sis." Back then, when Artemis and her hunters had saved them, Naruto looked to Zoe as he does now to Clarisse and Thalia. Older sisters. However, he did have a bit of hero worship in him for Zoe. He was seven year old kid who was about to be eaten by a hellhound only to be saved at the last minute by a badass female warrior in the form of Zoe. Wouldn't you look up to her?

At first, the woman wanted absolutely nothing to with him being a male and being hurt in the past by one, but he eventually got past her defenses with his child like charm.

Zoe stone faced looked morphed into a soft smile. "It is nice to see thee, but one has wonder why thou is out here and with that pelt."

Naruto paled. He had forgotten what his trench coat represented to the girl. Hercules was also known to wear something similar. The same man who hurt her. "I forgot about what this represents to you. I can get rid of it."

Zoe shook her head, stopping Naruto from taking it off. Even now, he was the same kid who wanted to make her happy. "No, keep it. I feel that you will give that image a new memory for me."

"Right." Naruto replied before sighing. He felt really soar.

"Oh and take this. Seems you have a unique spoil of war." Zoe stated as she gave him a pair of black fingerless gloves. When he put them on, she commented, "Hmm, they make thou look like that Talia's favored form of fashion. I hope you don't gain her attitude, little brother."

Naruto smiled sheepishly at that. "She has had plenty of chances, but she still has not managed." Zoe managed a smile at that. She was still not fond of Talia and her refusal to join the Hunt. Her gaze then went to the blond's hand as he made a fist and the new gloves turned into razor sharp gauntlets. "Interesting. Stygian Iron Gauntlets. I do wonder how those birds got into that."

"So you do know either." Artemis gathere. At his questioning look, she continued. "It would seem that in certain areas, monster had changed into deadlier versions of themselves. We are not sure why, but at this point, it matters not. We will hunt them like any other beast."

"So it is not an isolated incident. That is concerning." Naruto commented.

"True, but the matter at hand is what you are doing here." Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, that is simple." Naruto stated. "The oracle said that I should head over to the Nation's Capital alone to see what I could find. So I left alone, thinking I would get my traveling companions on the road. So did what she told me and went there but that left the question of what I was going to do there to gain the next clue. So I decided a tour of the capital was in order and when my tour group got the Lincoln Memorial…well that is when things got chaotic. The Nemian Lion attacked and I had to fight it. As you can see I did win, but during that fight, I managed to uncover something."

"And what is that?" Zoe asked.

"The path forward. I was to come to Salem since that is where the last person to go on this was. That and Hecate asked me to come here to deal with a problem of hers. Don't know what that is yet."

Artemis sighed sadly. "The reason they stopped here is because they simply disappeared."

"Lady Artemis?" Zoe asked, not even knowing about this fact.

"Salem has been of a place of mystery for years ever since the Witch Trails." Artemis replied. "The children of Hecate basically cursed this land on their dying breath after all. I do not remember what happened, but the boy simply disappeared and the quest was laid to rest until now."

"Makes sense, but I am not sure what she wants me to do. I am putting them to rest somehow."

The Goddess of the Moon sighed as she got up and motioned to them to follow her. Once they were outside and in the presence of the other huntresses, who all seemed to accept Naruto and be cautious of him at the time, she began to speak again. "I feel you being here is not by accident. It could be possible that these rare monsters and whatever is going on in Salem is connected."

"I see." Naruto replied before hearing a strange sound and looked to see something horrible behind Artemis and Zoe. The other Huntress seemed to notice at well and they were already preparing to defend their own. This creature was black and grey, looking all wispy like a ghost and had a horrible marred face, while the rest of it was coved in some sort of cloak. However, he beat them to the punch when he reached out with his hands to warn them of the disgusting creature, but then something shot out of his hands and when they interacted with the creature, it screeched with a horrible wail before flying off.

"What was that?" one of the huntresses asked in horror while many more asked it Artemis was ok.

"That…was a Wraith." Artemis said, slightly shivering at the monster's scream. "That also explains a bit of what is going on in Salem."

"Are you saying that was a child of Hecate?" Naruto asked as he also eyed his gauntlets, filing away the use of projectiles for later.

"Quite possibly them or just another civilian who's trapped to the mortal plain." Artemis replied sadly.

"Right well, I guess I found out what my task is. I should get this done somehow and quick." Naruto replied with an annoyed sigh.

"Thou are not doing this alone." Zoe declared. "Thy will help as thy fear there is more to it than that."

"I am glad you feel that way Zoe." Artemis replied as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "In fact, I feel that we will all be more than willing to help you. After all, they attacked first."

The blond boy looked at them in shock as Artemis just smiled at him. Looks like he gained more than a few allies on the road. "Thank you."

XXX

As the large group walked into the city of Saelm, they knew something was going on. For one, the sky was darkened to the point of unnatural. That was because that darkness was full of those wraiths.

Then if you looked at the general population, you would see a rather depressing sight. They all looked to be going about their usual business, but you could see that every single person had a wraith floating about them, making them either fearful or depressed. But not one mortal could see the wraiths.

"Well…this is certainly not good." Naruto commented.

"No, but it will be one hell of a hunt." Artemis replied with a smirk.

"Nice pun." Naruto commented.

"Pardon?"

XXXX

And that is the end of that chapter.


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